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Theatre Relevance workshop for Katkari tribal girls by one of Famous playwrights Manjul Bhardwaj

A three day theatre workshop for Katkari tribal girls was organised
at Mangaon which is a small town in Raigad district of Maharashtra. This was
done with the help of the famous actor, director,
writer, facilitator and initiator in theatre , Manjul Bhardwaj, Father
Richard of Sarva Vikas Deep Trust and Sister Rita and Sister Lavena of Amar
Deep Trust. In totality there are four areas in Maharashtra where the Kathkaris
are settled extensively. These include Mangaon, Roha, Karjat, Mahad. Out of the
total population of Raigad district which is around 22 lakhs, almost 22
thousand tribals ( Kathkaris ) are settled in Mangaon. The district has 15
talukas, 126 villages, 98 Gram Panchayats and 37 Group Gram Panchayats. Out of
all the tribals almost 98 % do not have any land of their own. Hence livelihood
generation is a major challenge. Both the agencies Sarva Vikas Deep and Amar
Deep work consistently towards ensuring the facilitation of basic rights of the
Katkari people.

The Katkaris in general are very shy people. This may be attributed
to the fact that they are very simple too. They live for each single day as it
comes and do not plan their lives as such. Not thatplanning is an alternative for them, still
they make the best out of the situations by working hard and celebrating it in
their communities. However the Katkaris are coming out of their shells now and
are exposed to outside issues and the world in order to fight for their long
foregone rights . During my several experiences on the field I worked closely
with the Katkaris. After talking to the Katkari women I felt that they were
even more oppressed considering alcoholism was prevalent in these socities.
Human rights violations are rampant at each level. Whether it is the case of
domestic violence where a husbandassaults his wife or the case of the child marriages where, by their
thirties the women become grandmothers and give birth to extremely weak or
malnourished children. All this in the comparatively developed state of
Maharashtra, in its Raigad district, which has now been declared as
malnutrition free. On each of my visits, inspite of my struggles with Marathi
langauge , I instantly felt a pull towards these women. I saw a hope in them
that someday someone was going to change their destiny. As I would walk into
the village I would be greeted with embraces and wide smiles and children would
run to their houses shouting “ tai ali”

The women would share several stories and would feel amused that I
was coming from Mumbai to be with them . They would tell me, in their broken
language that “ Tai, humare yahan to aise nahi hota, hum apni ladkiyon ko itni
duur nahi bhejte “. I could literally feel the sense of struggle within these
women's hard life where there is absolutely no security, no education. Their
men could leave them at any point in time and they would be rendered homeless
and struggling for trying to make a living for their families . Many such
experiences had started to churn me from within and triggered a thought process
where I would constantly think about how to make an intervention in this
complex cultural and social maze of problems.

It is true when someone says that you do not choose the path, the
path chooses you. The sense of direction came when in one of my other
initiatives a theatre group from Mumbai from an NGO named Stree Mukti
Sangathana came and performed in Mangaon and tribals were completely in awe of
the play and absorbed the message through a very dynamic lyrical play which
depicted the problems of the oppression of the women which started from her
very birth. The district Tehshildar of Mangaon, who is a lady came on the stage
and inspired the people to use this powerful medium of expression, theatre, for
communicating the problems in a town like Mangaon and especially to the Katkari
people who believe in living and celebrating life. I thought to myself, why not
this.

The idea was born. The problem was the execution as days of my field
work were getting over in Mangaon. I thought to myself I have to make it
happen. Then Father Richard, who is the head of the organisation Sarva Vikas
Deep discussed with me about the idea of having a street play workshop for the
tribal girl children. The idea instantly clicked. He said he would appreciate
it if the costs were negligible or low. Here came the real challenge. First was
to find someone who is proficient in this task and still very much grounded to
the realities of these people. Someone who could instantly connect with the
children without carrying the baggage of being a celebrity. Post discussions
with my friends I realized that it would be an uphill task to find such a
person, who knows Marathi, and possesses all the above qualities that I wanted
in them. However, here one of my friends Tabish helped me. He told me about Mr.
Manjul Bhardwaj and did not give me many details about him but just that he may
be able to help me.

My first conversation with him was funny. He had several demands and
wanted things in a specific way. Only after hearing what he was going to charge
for the workshop I thought to myself ' Okay, so it is not going to happen' I
requested him to reduce the charges as they were charging a lot. His response
was too inspiring for a first conversation. He said that ' Never think you can
not do something, set your targets andgo on achieving them '. I thought to myself, may be it was possible,
though being aware that time was short and resources Nil. I accepted it as a
challenge for myself and decided to do it, this time for the womankind.

After about a month of follow ups and arrangements, including
travel, bookings, dates, food, co-ordination etc. the big day finally arrived.
I was apprehensive about how it would unfold as I had not met this person and
still placed my trust on what I heard and read about him and his founation
Experimental Theatre Foundation (ETF) and Theatre Of Relevance . I was also
skeptical about the kind of connection he would be able to make with the tribal
girls considering they were really shy. On my previous interactions I had
noticed how introvert the girls were. In adverse family situations they had
never known how to express or accept love. They had a great fear of what the
society was thinking and it was quite internalised in their entire body
language wherin they would not make eye contacts, would hide behind each other,
would feel a sense of discomfort when embraced. I was unsure how such delicate
fragile creatures would be treated especially since I had heard Manjul Sir's
teaching methods were quite different from the conventional ones.

On their first interaction, the girls did not want to meet him, they
were feeling extremely shy. One of the girls, Manisha was sweating so much
while shaking hands that a glass could be filled with the sweat. The rest had
somewhat similar experiences. After the first day's training , four of the
girls were found crying and complaining that strict trainers had come to teach
them. I felt disappointed and started thinking whether this was the right step
I had taken.

However, little did I know that the following two days were going to
be transformational. As the students went up ahead the ladder with the
objectives of the programme,the methodology, the techniques, the many
breathing, humming and yoga exercises, there was a tarnscendental change in the
very way they walked, they talked and saw each other. Ashwini described the
whole process starting from introduction. She said “We do not talk about our
identity but want to know about others which indicates that we are not
comfortable with our own identities” Ashwini was made to stand and the children
were asked to identify with her. This process revealed what the children were
looking for , in themselves. Some said she looked confident, while others said
she was joyful. This helped the children in recognising what their own needs
for building their identities was.

Then was the time to introduce the concept of street play or 'Pathnatya' to the girls. About this
Manjul Ji has to say that any kind of learning can not be forced onto people,
it has to come from within, from the kind of persons we are. Following this,
girls were asked to volunteer for the street play and eight of them stood up.
They formed a circle and started with the play while others acted as observers,
while observing, the girls outside the circle could feel the change that was
undergoing in the circle, slowly they started getting involved and the circle
became larger as the girls followed the rhythm and caught up with it. The
children hence learnt both through observation and participation. As the training
progressed the girls were asked to say out aloud ' Hee Jagah Mazi Aahe' ( this
place is mine ) and 'Mee Swatah Chi Odhak Swatah Karun Denal' ( I will make my
own identity ) inside the training hall and then out
of the campus after which they formed a circle on the road and did the
same theatrical process and held the space for fifteen minutes and then
started to listen to their voice These two progressive slogans were made
use of to cut right through the patriarchal mindset where women are denied all
kinds of rights , property rights being one of them . At any place they do not
get a sense of belongingness. They were made to realize that they belonged
there and they were capable of creating their own destiny.

What followed next was an analysis of the vision of the future that
the girls had . Two of them, Kamal and Maya were called and asked about their
visions. While kamal had a lot of clarity about her thoughts, Maya, though
being very talented was not able to focus her energies in one direction. The observers,
the rest of the girls in this case were able to see how having a clear vision
helped Kamal in focussing all her energies in one direction. Manjul Ji
furthered this thought by saying ' Swatah Swatah chi Pareeksha gyaha, Aapi
tumhala zagay ch asel kar, Swatah Swatah chi Pareeksha depah atat shuruat kara'
( A person who walks a difficult path should not be afraid of exams that life
takes and should always do a self examination to keep walking on the difficult
path ). He said those who really live their lives completely do not run away
from exams.

While doing the morning exercises the girls were very tired but
since it was infused with entertainment and songs they immediately forgot their
fatigue and completely gave themselves to it. Later when he asked that what was
the purpose of the street play, many girls came up with the thought that it was
the medium for the society to break free from its structures.

By the evening they were all set to perform at the ST bus stand of
Mangaon. This came as a surprise to me as I did not know this was part of the
plan considering the starting point of the workshop. Since this was a last
minute plan, we had to run around a little for the permissions for the street
play but in the end that part was taken care of. As the girls started the
street play on child marriage the crowd slowly started gathering and people
were intrigued as to what was happening. This was something completely novel to
them. Their eyes were spread in wide amazement.

While on the way back after the street play there was a cerain
fierceness that had suddenly dawned onto these girls. Their enthusiasm was the
highest in all the years of the lives they had lived. They shouted slogans that
said that 'Katkari Mulgi Zindabad', 'We exist ', 'Accept us' , 'We are not
ready to be oppressed'. Some of them were laughing while some were crying.
After they settled and changed it was observed that they were wearing shiny and
starry dresses, when asked the reason for it, they simply said that they felt
happy. Each thought, each feeling was taken cognizance of.That was the night when some of them made
Manjul Sir their father, while some of them openly said how much they loved
him. Ashwini, Manjul Sir's companion in the workshop,wrote a song from their experiences which the
children enacted later through the means of socngs and action.

They also learnt dances from Ashwini and learnt why it was so
beautiful to dance. They were able to compose the song and dance by themselves,
sometimes they would get disappointed that they were not as good as their
trainers. At such times they would put even more energy and see the task
through its impeccable completion.

Last day during experience sharing I was not able to believe that
the girls had written their experiences themselves as they were such elaborate
descriptions of what changed in them. I had mistaken them to be in a state of
unawareness and was reminded of my own prejudices. On so many occassions we
create such knowledge hierarchies when we do not know others' culture. This
point was illustrated beautifully by Manjul Sir when he said that indigenous
culture is something to be proud of and just because one does not know a
certain language does not have to imply that one is not knowledgable. Knowledge
and litearcy are two completely different concepts and aspects of life which we
still need to understand and differentiate. As he made the children realize
that they were nowehere lesser than the people from urban areas and that they
had a lot of indigenous knowledge, the children applauded ferociously. As one
by one they came they said how this workshop had changed their lives. One of
them said ' You have made me realize what it is to be human '. Another one said
' Manjul Sir, you are like my father ', some said ' Ashwini Tai , your heart is
as beautiful as your face and that is what makes you so beautiful '

As the Sister from Amar Deep came, the girls who had never known how
to embrace people ran towards them and just threw themselves on to her. She was
completely taken aback and said that they never expressed their love like this.
As I watched through all of it , they came and hung around me and started
kissing me . Sister Lavena said that this workshop had taken away their fear ,
the fear of their comapnions, the fear of standing erect and speaking up in
public. It made them confident. She said that the children learnt to write
scripts by themselves. The workshop brought a lot of meaning to their life. A
few days past the workshop she said that the girls were still beaming and it
was something that they had received and learnt for life. She said the children
did much better because of the freedom of expression that existed during the
entire workshop.

On the train journey I started thinking about how the world would be
a beautiful place if it was not driven so much by logic and a lot more with the
life experiences, the emotions. I also pondered on how in the development
discourse we use the word poor and disempowered so frequently without realising
the relevance of it for the people for whom such words are used, Do they see,
what the so called elites see? How do they perceive themselves? What does
having a successful and meaningful life means for them ? Was it about
accumulating wealth or living life in its entirety ?

I also reflected on the power of art to transform lives especially
experiential art forms like theatre. I thought to myself if a universal
literacy mission was really the way forward or we needed something more,
something that intrigues people, something that connects ? Something that
teaches more about life than the books?

Theatre of Relevance is one such platform which has taught many
people not just to make an earning for the survival but to really live. It's a
strong tool in the hands of human kind which can lead towards its empowerment
and betterment. They say that Theatre of Relevance has a social touch to its
work, its performances, but then what kind of work does not have a social
touch? . So where really is the difference ? In seeing theatre as a product or a
process ? In this age of economic thoughts and actions, Theatre of Releavance
is a step towards the awakening of the cultural conscience of the humankind and
the society overall, a glue that can hold the society together, a medium for
the revolution in progress.

Doctor Rama Ratan, in Manjul Ji's book says that a person who wants
to learn the art of living, a person who wants to experience the formation of
internal turbulences and processes, a person who wants to experience love, God
and innocence, who wants to experience nature and wants to talk in its
language, the one who wants to see the subtle meanings in the evident facts,
should spend his or her time with children, should see their openness to life
because children teach us that life is so beautiful.

This was the beauty of the workshop and in Manjul Ji's words,' There
are very few workshops when our ( the trainers' ) eyes are moist, this was one
of them '.Manjul Ji is a person who not only has the sense of concept , time
and space but also has an experience of all three . The highlight of the
workshop was that the children became so proficient and engaged in the methods
that later on they designed their own concepts and gave a creative touch to
them . This was the magic of Manjul Bhardwaj's work and I wish there were more
such artistes who did not just work for survival or earning a living but making
the process of change so subtle and beautiful.